Steeped in Sufi mysticism, the music of Azerbaijan ("land of fire") ranges from the sublime to the ecstatic in both the folk and classical idioms. Imamyar Hasanov, born in Baku, is a virtuoso of the kamancha, a spike fiddle that is the ancestor of the violin and one of the most important instruments in Azeri music. In addition to contributing to the preservation of traditional music, he has created a body of work which has brought this music to the forefront of both the classical and world music fields. His program interweaves acoustic music with informal talk.